Different gratitude of a citizen to the saviors of his child’s life
When You Have A Creative Mind, You Will Find A Different Way To Appreciate Those Who Saved The Lives Of Your Loved Ones.
When the lives of our loved ones are at stake, we all react similarly, and of course, we all thank and appreciate those who brought our loved ones back to us. But sometimes words cannot reflect our gratitude and feelings in the best possible way, sometimes a simple thank you or sending gifts is not enough, and this is where some people go for more creative ways to express their true feelings, and this story is one of them. Citizen and creative photographer Rogier Van Bakel used his photography skills to give a special thank you to the dedicated firefighters.
But at first, it is not harmful to listen to him to learn more about the incident that happened to him and how he faced this issue. Stay tuned with Zoomit.
He says this:
On January 17th, 2018, I suddenly found myself in a terrifying but absolute nightmare. At that time, I was standing in a panic at the edge of a frozen lake near my house, watching the snow plows disappear softly into the blackness of the freezing night. The local firefighters had told me that my thirteen-year-old daughter, Julie, had fallen into the water in the snowplow, and I just thought I might never see her alive again.
I was fighting a hard battle with a wave of panic and sadness that took over my whole being. At the same time, I was thinking about breaking the bad news to my wife, who was at LaGuardia Airport in New York, trying to get herself to the airport as soon as possible. Bring home.
Now, who but I should have called him and told him about the loss of our daughter?
Just a few hours ago, Julie left the house for a car ride with her best friend Julia and her father Eli, and she was supposed to return home before it got dark, that is, around 4:00 pm. But now it was 6:30, and no one had seen them, and I had no news about them. Members of the State Rescue Service and volunteer firefighters from nearby towns were on the scene and searching far and near.
My mind was busy when suddenly a light passed through the trees, and the following sounds caught my attention. The deathly darkness engulfed Julie, Julia, and Ellie, and the temperature continued to drop and turn cold. But the glimmers of hope were soon extinguished because the light and sound belonged to people looking for a place to party around.
Finally, at eight o’clock in the evening, the news arrived, which seemed more impossible with each passing minute, but fortunately, it was true. The location of all three people has been identified, and they were all alive.
After the ice broke and the car fell into the water, they swam to the shore and climbed a cliff to get a good view of the surrounding area.
The firefighters rescued all three using a crane and special equipment while all suffering from frostbite and dizziness combined with weakness. The ambulances quickly transferred them to a hospital twenty minutes away from home, and all three people were quickly taken care of.
Now a question occupied his mind, how do you feel about those who risk their lives to save the lives of your loved ones? At first, he sent a letter to these kind saviors to show his gratitude, but he didn’t think it was enough. So another thought came to his mind: since he was the owner of a pizzeria, he invited them to be his guests for a day, and the taxi fare was free for all.
But again, this work did not satisfy him, which is why he used his photography skills this time. Since he has been photographing for 13 years, he decided to capture the portrait of these heroic firefighters, and for this purpose, he used a suitable lighting system that improved their image.
The seasoned citizen and photographer go on to point out that from the moment he decided to do this, he knew that the key to capturing compelling images was using the proper lighting. Three years earlier, he attended an advanced photography class and was trained for a week by Gregory Heisler, a famous professional photographer who is especially adept at creating admirable portraits.
During this course, Gregory taught him three lighting models suitable for capturing bright and spectacular images.
In this method, you should place a key light or “key light” along with a large light modifier in the front and top and two “strip boxes” approximately 6 to 8 feet high. 1.8 to two and a half meters) on the back side facing each other. If you keep the proportions correct, the reflection of the backlight will come forward and create a golden border. This lighting makes clothes look better even on a dark background, plus highlights facial features such as cheekbones and chin with the right shade of light.
Of course, this type of lighting is not suitable for all areas of photography; for example, this method does not seem ideal for photographing wedding ceremonies, especially for capturing the bride’s face. But instead, this method is convenient for recording portraits of athletes, heroes, and prominent managers.
That’s why our good citizen and photographer had this idea in mind, and he was sure that this special lighting for recording the image of firefighters would have a good result.
For this reason, during the summer, he spent all his time and sorrow preparing a suitable space. During this time, he installed his special lighting equipment and portrayed the portrait of 43 volunteer firefighters.
He says there were fishermen, bank employees, inn owners, sellers, and even researchers and scientists, and he always wondered how these people appeared in their regular clothes. Because, in his opinion, they would appear taller and more robust as soon as they put on a special uniform.
Later, when he viewed the images of the firefighters on a larger screen, he found them even more glamorous than the other portraits he had taken so far. It’s as if their personality had gained a double shine in these pictures. After that night full of apprehension and worry, he felt that experience and a common bond had formed between them, and now the firefighters trusted him.
In his opinion, now people’s smiles during photography are more forced. Still, in front of these brave people’s solid and steadfast faces, the absolute truth should be displayed during portrait photography.
However, he points out that he does not yet understand the difference but is trying to figure it out.
Despite all these issues, this citizen believes that he understands why the firefighters’ sacrifice has affected him, which is commendable. According to him, we are all involved in the game of, whichurally, run away from the dangers threatening our life and health.
This is precisely the opposite of the path these brave and selfless people take take because instead of saving their own lives, they think about saving others. They run into burning buildings, set fires, climb cliffs, attend accident scenes, and walk on paper-thin ice without the fear of death stopping them for a moment.
He finally says:
“My wife and I were lucky to have our daughter back and even luckier to have these dedicated men and women around us. There are more than 750,000 volunteer firefighters in the United States, and among them, we found hands so frank and uncaring. They gave meaning to the difference between life and death, so we salute them.”
